Essence of Light: A review

If you haven't had a chance to yet, please do head by MacDonald Island and stop into the Community Art Gallery on the second floor. The gallery opened its current exhibit last Thursday evening. The show features to photographers who share a passion for landscapes.

The curatorial choice to hang each artists body of work hung separately gives the feeling that the viewer is in fact seeing to different shows in landscape driven gallery, rather than a group show with a unifying theme or message. The first half of the gallery features the ultra detailed almost too descriptive works from Frank Hollahan "Frank's photography focuses most of his work on his life's passion of the land and sea of Newfoundland Labrador. In his collection are works inspired by the natural rugged beauty the island offers and other pieces of art that caught his eye"( http://afrankvernoncollection.com/).

The latter section of the gallery showcased Bill Martin's works. Martin's pieces presented landscapes from British Columbia, local areas within Wood Buffalo as well as the tropics and the prairies. These works captured distinct moments that Martin generously describes in his didactic tags. The fact that Martin is "driven by a sense of adventure and the thrill of seeing the landscape from new perspectives" (http://www.billmartinphoto.com/) is evident in the dichotomy of drama and intimacy that is presented in each of his works. Although he captures these grand moments of nature that stand on their own as wonders of nature, they works still feel somehow precious and inquisitive. I could spend a lot of time with these works discovering those new perspectives like layers.

The gallery also debuted an updated lighting system for the space, this atmospheric shift added to the dynamism of the show.  Another great showing! Well done Community Art Gallery.

Photo's provided by the Community Art Gallery